Now that we are already well into August, and even if we are on vacation, there are some festivals that have their call for entries open with an early deadline. As I mentioned in the previous post, 5 strategies for submitting to festivals with entry fees, it’s a good time to take advantage of these deadlines to submit at a lower price and have more chances of being selected.
In this post, I have selected 5 festivals where you can submit your short film right now, whose first deadline is scheduled between August and September. Whether you are a director or producer moving your own short film, or a distributor, it can be very interesting to take advantage of these deadlines.
In this case, I will focus on the short film calls for entries from festivals that are on the Oscar list and, therefore, also count for the Goya Awards.
- First, and most urgent, is the Sundance Film Festival, which closes its early deadline today, August 8, with a price of $40 for short films (for feature films there is a bit more time, until August 15). Tomorrow the price increases by about $20, up to $60 for the regular deadline. Sundance will be held this year from January 19 to 29. Submissions are made through Withoutabox.
- On August 15, the RiverRun International Film Festival closes, which is part of the Oscars list for both Fiction and Animation, as well as for Documentaries. The current entry fee is $25 and increases by $10 for the next deadline in October. The festival takes place in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, from March 30 to April 9.
- By the end of August, we find the SXSW South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, whose early deadline is August 25 with an entry fee of $40, which increases by about $15 in September. In this case, submissions are made through their own form. If you are interested in submitting to this festival, I leave you this very illustrative video that explains the entire process:
- On August 31, the Cleveland International Film Festival closes, one of the most important festivals in the United States. The current price is $50, and it increases by $10 starting in September. Submissions can be made through Withoutabox, FilmFreeway, or their own submission form. The festival takes place from March 29 to April 9.
- Finally, we go to New York. On September 8, the New York International Children’s Film Festival closes with an early deadline at a price of $40, and with a special student price of $25. After this date, the price increases by $20 to $60. This festival focuses on films aimed at children and young audiences, being one of the most important in its category. For submissions, they use the Withoutabox platform and it takes place from February 24 to March 19.
Let’s summarize dates and prices:
- 2016-08-08 – Sundance: $40
- 2016-08-15 – RiverRun: $40
- 2016-08-25 – South by Southwest: $40
- 2016-08-31 – Cleveland: $50
- 2015-09-08 – New York Children: $40
We can see that the most common average price for the early deadline of festivals in the United States is $40. If we plan to submit to all these festivals, it would mean an expense of $210, which at the current exchange rate would be €189.38 in submission fees, at their lowest price range.
I hope this information helps you to advance your submissions, and especially to save on your distribution budget.